


if only

by rikubraveheart



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, M/M, Oblivious Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Pining Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Prince!Sora, Princess!Kairi, Royal Guard!Riku, Royal Guard/Prince AU, very light angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-08 21:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17393858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rikubraveheart/pseuds/rikubraveheart
Summary: Riku has been Prince Sora's personal knight practically since he's had use of reason. But when his feelings start to go a little beyond friendship, he may have to take the decision to keep himself away from the prince. For both his wellbeing and Sora's.





	if only

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bumblebybuzz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblebybuzz/gifts).



> This is by far my favorite trope/AU. I think I meshed all my fave tropes in this one. It will have 3 parts + an epilogue, but due to timezones and school, we don't know when the next part will be up. This au has been created and co-written with my good friend @bumblebybuzz, who kindly revised this monster after I revised it a thousand times.
> 
> Spanish is my first language so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. Also, the title may change? We couldn't think of anything better.
> 
> In this chapter, Sora and Riku have some fun at the festival and Riku contemplates his feelings.

It was barely midday when Riku caught Sora sneaking out once again. It was not an uncommon event, catching the prince trying to get some time out of the castle, and he still managed to get away with it from time to time. It drove his father and Leon crazy.

Riku leaned on the door’s frame, waiting for the other boy to notice his presence.

“R-Riku!” stuttered Sora after finally seeing him. “I was just… going for a walk through the garden!”

The nervousness in his voice totally gave him away. Sora’s lying skills had never been good. He was a terrible liar, ever since they were children. Although he had gotten better over the years, Riku was the one person who could always see through his lies. Or maybe the only one who was close enough to him to dare call _the prince_ out.

“Sure thing, Sora,” he answered. “Let’s go back inside.”

Sora’s face fell, which didn’t fail to make Riku feel bad. As much as Riku wanted to let Sora go out and have fun, he couldn't. It was his duty as Sora’s personal knight to protect him, and it was well known a lot of people were after Sora’s life for his status as the crown prince.

“But… there’s this thing going on in town, and I just wanted to check it out,” he whined.

“You mean the festival?” he asked. Sora nodded energetically.

“I haven’t been able to go to the Paopu Festival since we were children, and I just thought if I went for a little bit and came back before nightfall no one would notice,” explained the brunette.

That made no sense. Riku would have definitely noticed. The only reason he had even left Sora’s side for a few hours was that Leon needed his help with the new knight apprentices.

“Can I _please_ go?” he pleaded. Riku gave him a stern look. “Pretty please?” he insisted. Riku was about to tell him no again, but Sora’s face prevented him from doing so. He was pouting at him, a plea reflected on his eyes. Sora’s puppy eyes were one of his few weaknesses.

“Okay,” he sighed. “But I’m coming with you. It is, after all, my duty as your personal knight.”

He wasn’t lying, after all. His duty was to protect Sora and there was no specification of that having to be inside the castle. And when he saw Sora’s big bright smile, he knew the scolding he was going to get from Leon later for allowing the prince to exit the castle grounds would be worth it.

“Thank you!” exclaimed Sora. Riku shushed him.

“Do you want the whole castle to find out we’re sneaking out?” he scolded him.

“Oops, sorry,” apologized the prince. His eyes widened, an idea appearing in his mind. “I’m going to get something. Wait here!”

Sora entered the castle once again. Five minutes later, he came back smiling, this time with a backpack on his shoulders. He continued his way out, but this time Riku followed him.

In his opinion, these protection measures were exaggerated sometimes. Even though he agreed Sora needed protection from possible assassinations, it wouldn’t hurt to let him out sometimes. It would certainly not hurt to let him go to a festival if he was going accompanied. And if his protection failed, it was not as if the prince was weak. He was a pretty good swordsman himself (although Riku was still better). Maybe he could talk about that with Leon after the scolding he was going to get.

With that in mind, they made their way to town.

When they arrived at the main gates of the town, Riku observed the busy streets. The previously empty streets were now full of different booths of food and games, much like it used to be when they were children. It had been a long time since the last time they had attended the Paopu Festival, but it seemed like it had become bigger over the years.

He turned to look at Sora and saw the other boy’s eyes full of childlike wonder trying to absorb all the information he could.

“It’s so much bigger than when we were children!” exclaimed the prince, voicing Riku's thoughts. He started to walk towards the booths, and Riku followed him from behind. Sora walked through all the different stalls, looking at every detail and trying to decide what to do first. While he was having fun, Riku kept an eye on their surroundings, always careful that no one would attack the prince or pay too much attention to them.

Finally, something seemed to catch Sora’s attention. “Riku, look!” he said. Riku looked in the direction Sora was pointing and saw a rather old and worn out booth, although he recognized it immediately. That was the game they used to play all the time when they came to the Paopu Festival. This game was most likely the origin of their rivalry, where they had competitions to see who scored the most points. More frequently than not, Riku was the one who won.

It was a pretty simple game. There was a stock of metal bottles and you had to throw a ball at and see who made more bottles fall. The more bottles you struck, the bigger the prize was.

Sora gave him a daring look. “Wanna try?” he asked, smirking. Riku recognized a challenge when he saw it, and he was not about to back down.

“You’re on,” he answered. They approached the stall together. Riku looked at Sora. “Do you have any munny?” asked the silver-haired boy. Sora scratched the back of his neck. “Ehh... I forgot?”

Riku gave him an unsurprised look. “You’re lucky I brought munny. What exactly would have you done if I hadn’t come along?” he inquired. Sora laughed nervously.

“Um… I don’t know,” he confessed. Riku shook his head. It was difficult to think this boy was to be king in the future. He had so many good qualities, but his memory was not one of them. More often than not, he got distracted by the smallest things. He didn’t doubt he’d be a good king, great and benevolent, but he would definitely need someone to keep him on the ground. Maybe that someone could be him.

 _‘Don’t go there,’_ Riku scolded himself.

Once he gave the owner of the stall the munny, he let Sora play first. Sora adopted a position of total focus as if his life depended on winning that game. He threw the first ball, and it hit the target. Most of the bottles fell, except for one.

“Oh, damn it,” he exclaimed. Riku smirked.

“Well, tough luck,” he teased him. He took the ball this time and aimed at the other stack of bottles. When he was about to throw it, the owner of the stall looked at Sora. Specifically, at Sora’s crown necklace.

“Oh! I recognize his one,” he said, gesturing at the necklace. “It used to be one of the prizes we had here.”

Sora smiled warmly. “Yeah! Riku won it for me years ago, the first time we came to this festival.”

Riku remembered that day like it was yesterday, even if it had been over a decade ago. They hadn’t been friends for long back then, but Riku already felt a sense of duty to protect the prince. They had stopped at this stall, attracted by the big and colorful prizes. Sora had played, but his little four-year-old arms hadn’t been able to strike too many bottles. He had gotten sad, and started pouting. Riku decided to play himself, and even if his five-year-old arms couldn’t do much better, he still managed to strike down more bottles than Sora. The prize had been the crown necklace, which he had gifted Sora later in the night, with a promise of protecting him from any harm.

He then realized he still had to throw the ball, but he was so distracted by Sora’s warm and nostalgic smile that he missed. Instead of making all the bottles fall, or at least most of them, only the ones on the top fell.

Sora looked at him with disbelief and Riku just blushed. If Sora had caught him staring, he’d combust on the spot. Instead, Sora gave him a teasing smile and bumped his fist against Riku’s arm. “Seems like you’re a little out of practice.”

Riku’s blush deepened. He _definitely_ preferred him thinking he was out of practice instead of knowing he was staring at him, but it didn’t make it any less embarrassing. They took their prize (nothing impressive, just a keychain of a Paopu Fruit), and resumed their walking.

“You know, I’m impressed you still wear that old thing,” Riku told him.

“Why wouldn’t I?” he simply said. “It’s one of my most prized possessions.”

Now _that_ was a surprise. Sora was a prince, he could have any jewel in the world he wanted or any other valuable thing he desired. But he had chosen a cheap and old necklace as something precious to him.

“But why?” he asked incredulously.

Sora smiled at him. “Because you gave it to me,” he answered. “It was the first thing you ever gifted me. And I dunno, I guess it somehow represents the start of our friendship.”

And Riku realized how stupid he had been, not seeing that coming. It was such a Sora thing to say. But even after years and years of knowing Sora, the brunet still managed to surprise him. He thought it was also stupid how the thought of that necklace being Sora’s prized possession warmed him up. It made him want to kiss Sora even more.

“Where do you want to go next?” asked Sora, unknown to Riku’s thoughts.

“I don’t have any preferences,” he answered. “Maybe we can just keep walking around until we find something to do.”

Sora seemed content with the idea. Much like when they had just arrived, they walked around the festival looking for something to do. This time, Riku took time to observe the environment. The decorations were as beautiful as ever, the theme of the Paopu fruit present everywhere you looked. The festival was far more beautiful at night, and it was a pity they weren’t going to see it. They should be back at the castle before nightfall or someone would worry. Knowing him, Leon was capable of sending someone after them.

They walked around for hours, participating in anything that caught their attention. Riku was positive that was the most fun they’ve had in years. Sora’s smile didn’t flatter in all afternoon, and nothing made Riku happier. He himself hadn’t stopped smiling.

“A Paopu Shake for the lovers?” said a voice suddenly. Both of them turned their head to look at an old lady in a stall, selling the famous Paopu Shakes of the festival. They were said to taste like the legendary Paopu fruit. Everyone knew the legend of the Paopu fruit, in which if you ate the star fruit with someone your destinies would be intertwined forever. Unfortunately, no one really knew where that fruit was found. Lovers often shared the shakes as a substitute for it.

Riku was about to correct the old lady, but Sora beat him to it. “Sure!” he exclaimed. They took one shake and paid the lady. Once they were out of her earshot, Riku talked.  “Why did you do that?”

“Oh, I just thought it’d be nice to taste it,” explained Sora. “I’ve always wanted to, and I heard they only sell them to couples.”

Riku shook his head. “Who told you that?” he said. “Kairi? That’s just a rumor. They sell them to whoever wants one.”

Sora blushed. “…oh. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” he apologized.

Riku wished Sora knew how wrong he was. He wished that were true, being with Sora and sharing a Paopu Shake as lovers. His heart felt warm again, and that’s how he knew he needed to get those thoughts away. That would never happen, and daydreaming would only lead him to get hurt.

Sora sipped from his drink. “This is so good!” he smiled. “It tastes like… like summer!”

Riku chuckled. “And how exactly does summer taste?” he asked.

“Like this drink!” he simply answered, like that made any sense. “Come on, try it you too.”

This time it was Riku who blushed. Did Sora not realize the implications of what he was saying? Even if the shake was not the real deal, it was still something that usually only lovers shared. Still, he took the drink, not thinking much of it. He realized Sora was right, if summer tasted like something, it would be like that drink. Riku wondered if the actual fruit tasted anything like that.

“Like it?” asked Sora. Riku nodded, still savoring the sweet taste of the drink. “Wouldn’t it be cool to share the actual fruit with someone?”

Riku snorted. He would have never pegged Sora for the romantic type. Yes, he was a sap, but not someone who dreamt of sharing a legendary fruit with the love of his life.

“Who would you share it with anyway?” he asked. “With Kairi?”

 _‘With me,’_ his thoughts betrayed him.

“With you, of course!” exclaimed the brunet. Riku choked on his drink, blushing a deep red. Sora seemed to realize what he had just said because he quickly continued talking. “I-I mean, the legend doesn’t say anything about lovers, right?” he stuttered, blushing. “If I had to choose someone to intertwine my destiny with, it’d be my best friend, uh, with you.”

Riku gave Sora back his drink. “Sure thing Sora, I would share the fruit with you if that’s what you really wanted,” he said. Sora smiled. And Riku wasn’t lying, because even if they were destined to only be best friends, at least it’d be a destiny they’d walk together.

After spending some more time trying food from the festival booths, Riku noticed the sun was about to start setting. Which meant it was time to go back to the castle. Sora was excitedly talking with a woman on a stall when Riku decided to break the news to him.

“Sora,” he started. “It’s time to leave.”

The other boy pouted. “Already?” Riku nodded. As much as he’d like to stay more, they had already broken the rules enough today. Going back to the castle would be for the best.

“Aren’t you two staying to see the fireworks?” asked the woman Sora had been talking to.

Sora’s eyes lit up. “Fireworks?!” he exclaimed.

“Yes, for a couple years now the Paopu Festival ends with a firework show, it’s really beautiful,” replied the lady. Sora gave him the puppy eyes again, and Riku knew he was doomed.

He was already going to get scolded, anyway. What were a few more hours?

They settled for going to the beach and relax for a bit before the fireworks started. Sora kicked off his shoes and sat on the sand, Riku imitating him. They sat together on the beach, bathing in the few last rays of sun of the day.

Riku’s mind wandered to the past. They had spent so much time on that beach when they were children. This was definitely not the first time they went there after sneaking out (not like Riku liked to admit how many times he had fallen for Sora’s puppy eyes).

“This brings back memories, doesn’t it?” he talked. Sora, who had his eyes closed, opened them and turned his head towards Riku.

“Yeah,” he said. “Remember how we used to come here and spar with our wooden swords all the time?”

Riku chuckled. He had been thinking the same thing. Back when they were children and Riku still sparred with Sora, they used to have lots of funs every day. Those were simpler times, when Sora didn’t have to attend so many princely duties and Riku was more his friend and less his personal guard.

“I miss those times,” continued Sora. “I used to win against you _all_ the time.”

Riku blinked. Even now, Sora still liked to tease him about beating him when they were children.

He used to let him win, but he was not about to tell Sora that. It was kind of an open secret, Sora being the only one in the castle unknown to the true nature of his victories against Riku.

“Even if you beat me when we were children, I bet you wouldn’t be able to now,” teased back Riku.

There was a gleam in Sora’s eyes like he had been waiting for that response. “Do you want to find out?” he dared Riku.

Sora took his backpack (Riku had completely forgotten he was carrying it) and took out two wooden swords out of it. The swords were worn out and had a lot of dents of being used a lot. It wasn’t difficult to recognize them as the swords they sparred with when they were children. Both had their names carved on the handle, and even without that feature, Riku was sure he would have recognized them anyway. He had spent way too much time with that sword in hand to not to.

“So?” insisted Sora.

Riku smirked. “Let’s do this.”

Both of them got up, not even bothering to put on their shoes. They adopted a battle stance, but judging by Sora’s smirk Riku knew this wasn’t going to be a serious fight. Not like he wanted it to be serious. He didn’t want to hurt Sora. Not only that, but if Riku came back to the castle after a day of sneaking out with the prince bruised, he was positive he wouldn’t get out of it with a simple scolding.

Predictably, it was Sora who attacked first. He struck from the front, trying to find Riku’s unprotected flank. Riku saw that coming and protected himself with his sword. He then fought back, sweeping Sora’s legs to make him fall. Sora fell to the sand, but he reincorporated before Riku could point at him with his fake weapon.

Riku took two steps back, distancing himself from Sora. So much for a silly fight. If Sora was going to take this seriously, then so was Riku. He waited until Sora struck again, deciding to take a defensive stance. Once again Sora stepped forward to attack. Riku was ready to strike him down, but instead of attacking him with his sword, Sora threw himself to Riku and brought both of them down to the sand.

Riku let out a surprised whimper. Sora was face down on the sand beside him.

“I have sand everywhere,” complained the prince.

“Maybe don’t use such unorthodox tactics next time,” replied Riku.

The two boys burst into laughter. Sora, still laughing, stand up and extended his hand to Riku, who took it and stand up as well. They sat where they were before once again, still excited after their mock battle. Riku had almost believed Sora was going to be serious, but of course, he had to _tackle him to the ground._ He much preferred that over a serious battle, though.

The sun had started setting. It was a beautiful sight, the waves bathed in the orange light of the sunset. They sat there in comfortable silence, watching as the light of the day slowly went away.

It was Sora who broke the silence.

“It’s funny, you know?” he said. “I can’t even remember meeting you. You’ve kind of always been there.”

Riku hummed. Sora was just a year younger than him, but he guessed it was easier for him to remember when he was introduced to the prince.

“I do,” he answered. “Barely, but I do.”

His parents had just died when Leon took him in, but since he was too young to start training, they assigned him as the prince’s playmate. Riku didn’t like that much back then.

“Oh? How was it?” asked Sora.

Riku smiled. “I didn’t really like you at first,” he said. “I thought you were just a spoiled, whiny prince.”

“Hey!” exclaimed Sora. “That’s not true.”

“But it is kind of true,” teased the boy. Sora bumped against his arm, protesting. “Just joking, just joking,” continued Riku. “Looking back, it was probably just me. I was in a dark place back then, even if I was just a kid.”

Sora gave him a sympathetic look, knowing he was referring to his parents’ deaths. Riku would have been bothered if it came from someone else. He didn’t want anyone’s pity. But coming from his friend, Riku knew it was not pity. It was just Sora’s empathy acting up as it did with everyone else.

“I can’t quite imagine my life without you,” said Sora. For who knows what time in the day, Riku felt butterflies in the stomach. He couldn’t imagine life without Sora, either. “Or without Kairi, but I do remember meeting her,” finished the prince.

Riku grimaced. Kairi was their friend, but he couldn’t help but feel spite towards her as of late. Nothing made him feel guiltier than that. Kairi was his friend too, and it was not her fault or Sora’s that he had fallen for the later. Kairi was an amazing friend, always supporting them in their shenanigans. Even if she didn’t visit much, she certainly didn’t deserve Riku’s spite.

“I guess you would remember that,” said Riku. Sora looked at him with confusion, apparently having noticed the spite in his voice. “You were considerably older,” he said, fixing it.

If he kept having slip-ups like that one, Sora was eventually going to catch on to his true feelings. They kept chatting about the old times, now including stories that had Kairi in it.

“Remember when she showed us how to make flower crowns?” asked Sora. “You kept telling her that was a girly thing but you still joined us in the end.”

Riku smiled warmly at the memory. That was a little after meeting Kairi, when he still didn’t trust her. But the girl quickly made her way into his heart as one of his best (and few) friends.

If you asked Riku, he wouldn’t be able to tell you why he did the next thing.

“Aren’t you excited about seeing her again in the ball?” he told him. Sora nodded energetically, smiling from ear to ear. “You also get to finally announce your betrothal to everyone.”

Suddenly Sora stopped smiling. Kairi and he had been engaged by their parents a year ago, after they noticed the good relationship they had and realized how beneficial it would be for both kingdoms. In addition, Kairi and Sora would be happy. Even when they had never actually had a conversation about it, it was obvious those two liked each other. They were the perfect couple.

Sora didn’t reply, but Riku simply attributed it to him being nervous. After all, announcing a royal wedding was a big deal. All eyes from both kingdoms would be on them.

Their engagement also happened to be one of the biggest reasons why Riku was so reluctant to accept his feelings and constantly tried to repress them.

The night had already fallen, and they both sat in silence waiting for the fireworks to start. This was not the same silence as before, though. It was far from comfortable. The mentioned betrothal had created tension in the air.

Just when Riku was starting to worry he had done something wrong, the fireworks started. There was a sudden explosion of color that illuminated the night sky. They were of all colors and shapes, the star shape of the Paopu Fruit being the most frequent one.

Neither Sora or he had ever seen fireworks this up close before, and now he wished they had the opportunity to do so more often. They only had seen fireworks from the safety of the castle, but this was ten times better. Maybe it was the setting, how close they were or the fact they were alone, but Riku’s chest was bursting with excitement and happiness.

He turned to look at Sora.

If he thought the fireworks were beautiful, it was nothing compared to the beauty of Sora’s face being lightened up by them. The fireworks reflected in his eyes like shooting stars, making them look like a gorgeous night sky. Suddenly Riku realized Sora’s name fitted him incredibly well. Looking at his eyes was like looking at the endless sky. His eyes were shining brighter than the fireworks themselves and Riku swore he could spend hours just looking into Sora’s eyes.

“Woah!” exclaimed Sora, breaking his train of thought. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” answered Riku, his stare never leaving Sora’s face. “It is.”

In an impulsive act, Riku took Sora’s hand in his, unable to stop himself. He was surprised when Sora, instead of pulling away, squeezed his hand. Sora met his stare and smiled at him. Riku felt shivers go down his spine.

He felt happier than he had felt in years. He wished it could always be like this, just Sora and him. But then, he remembered the previous mention of Kairi and Sora’s future marriage and realized how wrong he was. It would never be just Sora and him, at least not the way he wanted it to be.

He pulled his hand away from Sora and stopped smiling. The other boy seemed to notice something was wrong, but before he could say something Riku talked.

“Let’s get back now,” he talked. “Everyone must be worried.”

On their way back to the castle, there was only one thought in Riku’s mind. Sora and Kairi would have their happily ever after, and Riku would be nothing but a background character in it.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it, and I'm sorry again if it was trash. My writing in English isn't exactly the best. 
> 
> THIS FIC IS NOW IN HIATUS. I will try coming back to it soon.


End file.
